Executive Summary …show more content…
Consumer Spending
In October personal income increased $48.1 billion and disposable personal income increased $30.2 billion according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In addition, personal consumption expenditures increased $8.2 billion. With consumer spending representing about 70% of total GDP increases in the different income categories translates into more consumer spending. Analysts believe that with continued increasing we can start to return to pre-recession levels of spending. This increase is a positive sign for retailers because there is more disposable income to purchase their products than recently as we continue to move away from recessionary levels. From the chart below you can see the upward trend from the 2008 lows in personal consumption spending.
The chart on the next page does a good job portraying the recent trends in consumer spending.
Sovereign Debt
Foreign currencies have been seen weakening relative to the US dollar due to many debt issues in countries abroad. This has caused investors to flock towards the safest reserve currency, which is the US dollar. Fear in Europe stems from economies that are much too large to be bailed out or allowed to completely default on their debt and the means for a solution have not come about as of yet. Greece, Italy, and Spain are among those